Improve communication with deaf and hard of hearing clients during COVID-19

Abstract

COVID-19 is a new pandemic caused by the new coronavirus, SARS CoV, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has advi- sed face masks to prevent the transmission of the coronavirus to others. These safety measures devices protect people but interfere with acce- ssible and effective communication for the deaf and hard of hearing [DHH] [1]. Face masks may change the intelligibility of speech communi- cation in hearing-impaired people because they look for visual cues from the mouth to unders- tand speech [2], but they cannot read people's lips or see the faces of who those talk to them. There- fore, they may be at greater risk of social iso- lation and loneliness due to difficult communi- cation